This 50's sci-fi film has always been one of my favorites from that era.
As with another Columbia Pictures film - "Earth vs.the Flying Saucers",released the previous year - "20 Million Miles To Earth" features
some of the same cast: Joan Taylor, Thomas Browne Henry and John Zaremba,
(William Hopper{Det.Paul Drake of the Perry Mason TV Series}replaces Hugh
Marlowe as the leading male protagonist).
This film also has a relatively simple, straightforward plot, literate
script and dialogue, plenty of action and a brisk pace. And as with "Earth
vs.the Flying Saucers", the main attraction is the outstanding special
effects of Ray Harryhausen. It is because of these similarities that I
consider the two films companion pieces.
Leonard Maltin calls "20 Million Miles To Earth" one of the best monster-on-the-loose movies ever, and I certainly agree. The sulphur-eating, reptilian-like Venusian creature, "the Ymir's" titanic struggle with an
elephant in the streets of Rome, preceding the climatic confrontation in
the Colosseum with mankind, remains one of the greatest one-to-one creature
battles of all time.
BTW, Nathan Juran also directed "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad" the next year,
featuring more great effects from Harryhausen. - AH
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Topic - "20 Million Miles To Earth"- 1957: A Review - AudioHead 08:41:57 03/06/00 (3)
- Re: "20 Million Miles To Earth"- 1957: A Review - Pam 19:11:40 03/07/00 (1)
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- Re: "20 Million Miles To Earth"- 1957: A Review - greg horn 17:09:17 03/06/00 (0)